Syracuse women's lacrosse continues dominant start to season with 18-6 win over Canisius

Syracuse, N.Y. — The Syracuse women's lacrosse team's tour de force continued on Sunday with Canisius becoming the latest victim.

The Orange (3-0) routed the preseason Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference favorites 18-6 in the Carrier Dome, upping their total margin of victory through three games to 64-13. The Orange is ranked No. 2 in the coaches' poll and No. 3 in the Brine media poll.

Syracuse, which has made consecutive Final Fours and been outspoken about its national championship aspirations this season, has surrendered just 33 shot attempts while overwhelming its first three opponents by 51 combined goals.

"You don't want teams to really feel like they're in the game," said junior Alyssa Murray, who led the Orange with six points.

The Orange should get its first true test of the season next week when it travels to No. 6/8 Virginia for its first ACC game.

With a 22-day break between Syracuse's season-opening wins in Florida over Jacksonville and Stetson, the Orange stared relatively slowly, at least by its lofty standards, going the first 5:15 without a goal. After the game, head coach Gary Gait picked at the Orange's offensive execution.

Still, the game was still never in question, and once Syracuse got started there was little letup.

Kelly Cross scored Syracuse's first goal, Kayla Treanor added one 47 seconds later and the Orange were never challenged.

Murray had two goals and four assists, while Taylor Poplawski, a freshman from Christian Brothers Academy, displayed the flashiest one-on-one moves, scoring four goals and adding an assist. Treanor added five points for Syracuse.

Canisius got three goals from Baldwinsville's Meghan Cuddy.

Poplawski's success with the transition to Division I might be the most important takeaway from the early portion of the season.

"The last few years our attack has been, if not the best, one of the best in the country," Gait said. "It's right there again."

Syracuse had the game in hand halfway through the first half, scoring its first four goals before Canisius managed to take a shot and building a 13-2 lead by the midway point. The Orange scored 13 goals in the first half, while the Golden Griffins took just four shots.

The game utilized a running clock for the final 25 minutes, a product of Syracuse's double-digit second-half lead.

"We were just excited to play," Murray said. "We've worked hard the past few weeks. You go through ups and downs through long stretches of practice like that. It's hard to keep the energy up. In the last few weeks we've really pushed forward and tried to focus on today being the next step in our season. We're going to blink and we're going to be in April and May."